Bumper



Feb. 16 1926. 1,573,326

- w. F. OHME ET AL BUMPER Filed Nov. 1 1923 17706772 07" Wd/fr F 0/1777e and Zen is /7 F/Aer- Patented Feb. 16,, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

wenrnn r. 01mm, or nnmmroms'ann LEWIS n. FELKEB, or am. PAUL, mmnnsora.

BUMPER.

- Application filed November 19, 1923. Serial No. 675,497.

" To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, -WALTER F. OHME and LEWIS FELKER, citizens of the United States, residing at Minnea olis, in

6 the county of Hennepin and tate of Minnesota, and St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, respectively; have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bumpers, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to bumpers and has for its object to provide a bumper constructed of a hard metal body which is covered with a covering adapted to readily take plating or ornamental embossing.

Another, object of the invention 1s to provide a bumper constructed of bar material having a facing of a softer material secured thereto, which facing is'adapted to readily receive plating or embossing.

, Anotherobject of the invention resides in providing a bumper having a hard metal body with a faeing extending along the.

portion of the same only, which facing is adapted to receive plating or embossing.

A still further object resides in arranging said facing so that the same may be readily attached or removed as.requ1red Another object of the invention reslaes in providing said facing with yieldable curved ends adapted to snap over. the edges of said body to'hold the same rigidly 1n lace.

P Other objects of the invention reside in the detailed construction of the same as clearly brought out in the specification and claims relating thereto.

In the drawings illustrating our invention, Figure 1 isa perspective view of one form of the same Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 of another form of the invention.

Figure 3 is a plan view of still another form of the invention.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Figure 1. y

' Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 2. a

" Figure 6 is a similar section to Figure 5 of a different construction of the bumper bar. I,

In the manufacture of bum ers considerabledifliculty has been found in the plating of the same with nickel or other metals in which facing may be plated in the customthat when a tempered steel body is used the nickeling will not readily adhere thereto and it does not give the high lustre or take the polish which nickeling applied to softer metals possesses, and frequently peals off, leaving anunsightly surface.

Our invention overcomes thesedisadvantages by providing a facing for the bumper which is constructed of a softer material readily adapted to receive plating,

ary manner and attached to the bumper proper. In addition, this facing may extend for a portion of the distance of the bumper only, so that a part of the same may be plated while the remainder may be coated with enamel or other suitable covering, giving a variety in design and appearance of the bumper.

In the form of bumper shown in Figure 2 a steel bar 10 is employed which is bent with two loops 11 and 12 at the ends thereof and which is formed with parallel portions 13 and 14 provided with the necessary holes 15 by means of which the same may be readily attached to the chassis proper of the motor vehicle. Such bum ers as so formed are now in common use with motor vehicles and the actual manner of attachment of the same has not been explained in detail since the same does not form a feature of this 35 invention.

This bumper is preferably constructed of a light bar material which may be of sprin steel or any other suitable material adapte to resist shocks and is preferably tempered so as to 'bend upon being struck and to resume its original position upon therelease of the same.

Up'on the exterior of the bar 10 at the forward portion thereof we place a facing member 16 which is shown is detail in Figure 5. This member consists of a flat portion 17 adapted to fit in front of the forward portion of the bar 10 and further consists of curved portions 18 and 19 passing around the edges of said bar. The extreme edges 20 and 21 of said facing are brought together to meet at the center of the bar at 22 upon the reverse side thereof, so thatthe said facing completely incloses the bar 10 as shown in the figure. In securing the facing 16 to'the bar 10 the'said facing is first constructed of U-shaped formation and is placed over the said bar, after which said facing is bent over to surround said bar and rolled in place thereon.

The facing 16 is preferably arranged to extend along the straight portion of the bumper only, although if desired, the same may be extended beyond the straight portion to pass-around the loops 11 and 12."

This, however, makes the application of the deviceamore complicated and one ofthe other forms of the invention will be found more suitable when the same is desired. The ends of the facing 16 may be cut off in any ornamental manner as indicated at 52 and 53, being here shown with projecting curves of an artistic nature.

In finishing the bumper the facing 16 is bufled and plated in the usual manner. By constructing the facing-of brass or copper the same can be made to readily take nickel or any other desirable plating to give a substantial and highly polishedappearance.v If desired, the looped portions 11 and 12 of the bumper proper may be enameled in black enamel or any other suitable color whichwill readily adhere to the steel or other material from which the body of the bumper is constructed. Such enamel may be placed upon the bumper before the facing 16 is attached thereto or the same may be applied afterwards as desired.

In the structure shown in Figure 1- a slightly different type of bumper is illustrated. This bumper is also constructed of bar, metal, a bar 24 being employed which has its ends 25 and 26 bent or curved away from the body of the said bumper. A supporting means for the bumper in this case comprise two bars 27 and 28 which are formed with angular portions 29 and 30 adapted to-lie against the rear face of the bar 24 and to be clamped thereto bymeans of clips 31 and 32. It can readily be seen that if desired the form of facing shown in Figure 5 may be employed with this type of invention, though for illustration we have shown the said facing of the type illustrated in Figure 4. In this case the facing 16 is preferably formed of spring brass and has its edges turned over at 18 and 19 the same as the device shown in Figure 5, excepting the rearward portions of the same are of a considerably shorter length, terminating shortly after the end of the curved portion of the same as indicated at 33 and 34. This permits the facing 16 to be snapped over the edges of the bar 24 and to be held in place thereon by means of the spring action of the said facing, the portions 33 and 34 clinching'the entire facing securely in place upon the device. As can be seen in Figure 4, the portions 29 and 30 of the supports 27 and 28 are clamped against the portions 33 and 34 of the facing 16, thereby rigidly holding With the ends so cut off the catching of the facing upon the objects with which the bumper may come in contact and the subsequent separation of the, facing fromthe bumper are thereby eliminated.

If desired, the facing 16 may be embossed with an ornamental design as shown at 39 inaddition to being lated asbefore specified. This permits 0 giving the. bumper an ornamental appearance not before possible in the employment ofspring-steel in-use for bumpers. Vith a facing having'such a des gn 1mpressed or embossed thereon we find it preferable to use the type of facing shown in Figure 4, which may be snapped in place upon the bar 24 instead of being rolled in place as illustrated in Figure 5, since the rolling of the rearward portions 20 and 21 of the facing 16 would be rendered more difficult by the existence of a raised design upon the facing of the same. The same can, however, be accomplished by placing the design inwardly from' the edges of thetf acmg and by resting the. facing along its edges only while the ends of the same are being rolled in place. a

When the bumper is constructed of T iron the form of facing illustrated in Figure 4 is preferably employed, which is illustrated in Figure 6 as applied to such a bumper.

In Figure 6 we have shown a type of bumper bar indicated at 40 which is constructed with grooves 41 and 42 along the inner edges of the same. In this form of the invention a facing such as shown in Figure 4 is employed, the ends 33 and 34 thereof being adapted to snap into .the said grooves to rigidly hold the facing in place. With this construction the facing lies per fectly flush with the exterior surface of the bumper so that a smooth and neat appearing construction is pfovided. The facing in this case is snapped in place as in the case of the device shown in Figure 4.

In Figure 3 we have shown a different type of bumper-having'a body portion 24 with ends 25 and 26 similar to that illustrated in Figure 1. This body portion may have a facing 16 attached thereto of either the forms shown in Figure 5 or in Figure 6. Upon the reverse side of the-bumper 24 are positioned pairs of curved spring members 43 and 44 which are held in place by clips 45 and 46 similar to the clips 31 and 32. These spring members .43 and 44 come totached to the bumper to give the same the gether at 47 and are bolted to supports 48 by means of which the entire bumper may be attached to the chassis of the vehicle in the ordinary manner. With this type of bump-' er great resiliency may be had and at the same time the facing may be readily atappearance desired.

The advantages f our invention are manifest. An extremely'simple and efficient mannor in providing a plated or embossed surface to the bumper may be secured by which the said surface may be suitably plated with a plating which will permanently remain attached thereto, In addition, ornamental designs may be embossed or impressed upon the facing of the bumper to give distinction and individuality to the same. With certain forms of the invention the facings may readily be removed and other facings substituted if desired, or new facings employed when through use the original facings become marred or disfigured' By enameling the ends of thebumper a contrast between the plated and enameled portions of the bumper may be had which gives the bumper a distinctive and striking appearance not ordinarily found with the bumpers which are either enameled or plated throughout.

In accordance Withthe patent statutes we have described our invention, illustrating the best embodiment thereof, but we desire to have it understood that the invention can be carried out by other means and applied edges, a spring facing havin a portion adapted to lie adjacent said attened surface, said facing being'formed of spring metal and curved spring ends formed on said facing adapted to snap over said rounded edges of said bar to hold said facing in place thereon under spring tension. 7

2. In a bumper, an impact bar, and a sheath or cover adapted to be secured to the bar by first fitting one of its edgeportions to one edge of the bar and then ressing the body of the cover to the face of the bar to snap the cover on said bar.

In a bumper, the combination of an impact bar having a curvededge, and a sheath or cover of resilient metal having one edge portion fitting over one edge of the bar, and a curved flange forming the other edge portion and adapted to snap into engagement over the curved edge of said bar.

4. In a bumper, the combination of an 1mpact bar and a sheath or cover having a channe1-shaped edge portion fitting over one edge of the bar and having the opposite edge portion formed to snap over the opposite edge of the bar to attach the sheath to the bar without the use of tools.

5. In a bumper, an impact bar, a sheath or cover therefor having a resilient portion adapted to snap on the impact bar to retain the sheath or cover in position on said bar.

6. In a bumper, an impact bar, and a sheath or cover provided with upper and lower resilient inturned portions, said cover being adapted to be secured to the bar by snapping said resilient inturned portions into place on said bar.

WALTER F. OI-IME. LEWIS H. FELKER. 

